Travel, Explore, Discover
Winter Cultural Tours
Ireland
Giving Life to Beauty—Outdoor Painting in Ireland with Bill Brody
September 10–20, 2008
This course is designed for all levels. Bill will demonstrate that painting is possible anywhere without aesthetic compromise. He will cover techniques for quick sketching, plein-air painting, and journaling. The course takes place in the West of Ireland, but the first two days are in Dublin with a tour of the National Gallery, and the National Museum of Archaeology and History, the national repository for over 2 million artifacts which range in date from 7000 BC and the late medieval period. On the third day you will go by train to County Mayo in the West where you will paint outdoors in strategic locations selected for their dynamic landscape vistas. Included will be a day trip to the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, visits to Hennigan’s Heritage Farm, the Country Life Museum, and Atlantic Drive on Achill Island. The West of Ireland is a perfect place for artists and writers.
Deadline for registration: June 1, 2008. Program is limited to 10.
Program fee: $2500. A credit option is available
Program fee includes: Accommodations, most meals, travel within Ireland, and entrance
fees to scheduled site visits. September can be a mild and pleasant month of the year in Ireland, but
you will be provided with a rain-tarp painting set-up, just in case. After you register you will receive
a comprehensive list to outfit yourself for this outdoor painting adventure.
Program fee does not include: Airfare, art supplies, gratuities.
For more information, contact Summer Sessions at (907) 474-7021 or (866) 404-7021 toll free.
Image credit: Bill Brody
China, Mongolia, Tibet
From the Great Gobi Desert to the Roof of the World
October 10–28, 2008
UAF Summer Sessions, The Chinesetown Language Institute, and Zhejiang Overseas Tourism Corporation invite you to explore the ancient land of China and the mysterious land of Mongolia on this 18-day adventure. You will spend time in Beijing (capitol city of China), Ulaanbaatar (capitol city of Mongolia), Xining (cultural center on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau), Lhasa (traditional capitol of Tibet on the roof of the world), Shigatse (Xigaze; the second largest city in Tibet), and Guilin (on the Li River in the Guangxi Province of China). This tour combines travel and lectures to enhance your understanding and appreciation.
The tour starts in Beijing visiting Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China, the Spirit Way, and one of the Ming Tombs among other sites. You will learn to cook Chinese dishes with a chef from Weizhenlou Restaurant, commencing with a trip to the market with the chef. From Beijing you fly to Ulaanbaatar visiting Mongolia’s Terelj National Park and Hustay National Park. See the wild horses at Khulstayn Uul Reserve and visit the Mongolian village of Altanbulag. Lunch along the river, Tuul Gol, as you travel to Manzhir Monastery. After a night in Beijing you fly to Xining to visit the Ta’er Lamasery, a Tibetan monastery. In the evening you board the sleeper train for a full day that takes you through the breathtaking beauty of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to Lhasa on the rooftop of the world. There you see the Jokhang Temple and the Potala Palace. From Lhasa you take a bus into the countryside of Tibet, enjoying the spectacular scenery of the Himalayas—in particular the Yamzho Yumco Lake and Karula Glacier. You visit a Tibetan village, the ancient town of Gyangze and the Palkhor Monastery on your trip to Shigatse. While in Shigatse you tour the Tashilhunpo Monastery. You return to Lhasa from Shigatse and fly to Guilin and take a cruise down the picturesque Li River to Yangshuo. There you tour the lively open market and absorb some of the most beautiful country views in China. A bus takes you back to Guilin where you spend your final day visiting a tea plantation and touring the Reed Flute Cave. From Guilin you can fly back home OR on to Hong Kong for an optional three-day tour of Hong Kong*. (See below.)
Deadline for registration: August 1, 2008. Program is limited to 25
participants.
Program fee: $4,150/person double occupancy; $710 single supplement.
Program fee includes: four star hotels, three meals a day, travel within China, Tibet, and Mongolia,
educational programs, performances, and entrance fees to all scheduled events.
Program fee does not include: Airfare to and from China, passport and visa fees.
*Optional three-night tour extension to Hong Kong at conclusion of China tour: $725/person double occupancy;
$900 single supplement.
Program fee includes: airfare from Guilin to Hong Kong, three hotel nights, breakfasts, and half-day
city tour including lunch.
For more information, contact Summer Sessions at (907) 474-7021 or (866) 404-7021 toll free.
Image credit: Michelle Bartlett
Viet Nam
Viet Nam at the Crossroads
December 28, 2008–January 11, 2009
UAF Summer Sessions and Global Exchange present a fourteen-day reality tour of Viet Nam. Enjoy a unique look at this remarkably beautiful and dynamic nation. Neither a tour of the battlefields, nor a shopping and eating spree, those who join this tour will see the real Viet Nam as she is today— a bustling mix of socialism and capitalism, a country still healing from the war, and an energetic and proud society eager to re-enter the world’s stage. Led by the International Relations’ officer of the Viet Nam Women’s Union, this tour provides participants an insiders’ view of both urban and rural communities, the present government and its relationship with the U.S., the Viet Nam economy, expanding trade, health care, and education. The itinerary includes visits to exquisite historic and cultural sites as well as the breathtaking countryside of Viet Nam.
Program begins in Hanoi and travels to Hue, Da Nang, and ending in Ho Chi Minh City. A boat trip along the Mekong River and a day exploring the rural villages including rice-farming operations are included in this program.
Deadline for registration: September 1, 2008. Enrollment is limited to 25
participants.
Program fee: $2800/person double occupancy; $650 single supplement
Program fee includes: Five star hotels, three meals a day, travel within Viet Nam, educational programs,
performances, and entrance fees to all scheduled events.
Program fee does not include: Travel to and from Viet Nam, and visa and passport fees.
For more information, contact Summer Sessions at (907) 474-7021 or (866) 404-7021 toll free.
Image credit: en.wikipedia.org
Mexico
Ten-Day Culinary & Cultural Tour: The Heart of Traditional Mexico
January 24–February 3, 2009
UAF Summer Sessions invites you to join Mexico’s premiere cooking school in Tepoztlán, an hour outside Mexico City, for ten days of authentic hands-on cooking with village women, and excursions that will take you into the heart of pre-Hispanic and contemporary Mexican culture. The hotel where you will be staying is in the seductive village of Tepoztlán, an area known as the Valley of Eternal Spring.
Learn to make tortillas, tamales, mole, chilies rellenos, cilantro and squash blossom soup, and a delicious array of original desserts. Try your hand at food writing with Cocinar Mexicano director Magda Bogin, novelist and the translator of Isabel Allende’s House of the Spirits. Learn to mix the best margaritas with the great-grandson of the man who invented them. Explore the eight-barrio churches of Tepoztlán (built on the ruins of totemic pyramids) and the UNESCO World Heritage Cathedral in the center of the market. Climb to the ancient pyramid that overlooks the village, one of only two hilltop pyramids in Mexico. Experience the intense relaxation of a traditional adobe sweat bath, or temascal, and buy classic Mexican pottery at the nearby village of Tlayacapan.
From our base in the foothills of the great volcanoes, we will participate in local fiestas (including the famous feast of La Candelaria on February 2), travel north to the famed art museums and lush gardens of Cuernavaca, and journey south to the 10th century citadel of Xochicalco, a day trip that will also take us to the restored 16th century Hacienda San Gabriel, one of the best preserved of Mexico’s colonial estates, where Zapata headquartered his troops during the 1910 Revolution.
Your all-inclusive trip begins and ends in Mexico City.
Deadline for registration: September 1, 2008. Program is limited to 25 participants.
Program fee: $2800/person double occupancy, single supplement $300.
Program fee includes: Hotel, three meals a day, travel within Mexico, educational
programs, performances, and entrance fees to all scheduled events.
Program fee does not include: Travel to and from Mexico City.
For more information, contact Summer Sessions at (907) 474-7021 or (866) 404-7021 toll free.
Pacific Northwest
Nine-Day Northwest Coast Art and Museum Tour
February 6–15, 2009
Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria are centers for outstanding art of the Northwest Coast First Nations, both historic and contemporary. This nine-day immersion in the art of the region includes not only visits to museums, but visits into artists’ studios. Beginning in Seattle, we explore the Seattle Art Museum in downtown Seattle and the Burke Museum on the University of Washington campus. A scenic train ride up the Pacific Coast takes us to Vancouver. Our visits include the award-winning Museum of Anthropology on the University of British Columbia campus, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Vancouver Museum where we will find a range of Northwest Coast art. A ferry ride takes us to magical Victoria where we will see the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and the extraordinary Buchart Gardens. Our final day will include high tea at the Empress Hotel before we return late afternoon to Seattle aboard the Columbia Clipper. Aldona Jonaitis, Director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North and a well-recognized expert in Northwest Coast Native art, will be our tour expert.
Deadline for registration: October 1, 2008. Program is limited to 25 participants.
Program Fee: $2200/person double occupancy; $700 single supplement
Program fee includes: Hotels, meals, transportation within the program, and entrance fees.
Program fee does not include: Transportation to and from Seattle.
For more information, contact Summer Sessions at (907) 474-7021 or (866) 404-7021 toll free.